Air Force Promotes First Ever Black General Officer, Benjamin O. Davis Jr.

Oct. 27, 1954

Benjamin O. Davis Jr., son of the first black general officer in the U.S. Army, becomes the first black general officer in the U.S. Air Force. He retires Jan. 31, 1970, as a lieutenant general, and is advanced to general on Dec. 9, 1998, by President Bill Clinton.

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Michael Wynne, SECAF 21, Dead at 82 

Oct. 22, 2026
Michael Wynne, the 21st Secretary of the Air Force died Oct. 17. He was 82 years old. Wynne was Secretary from 2005 to 2008, a stretch of time when the U.S. military was struggling to quell insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Army was struggling to simultaneously man occupation…